Gladiator

Chapter 4

Zrina's POV:

     Lo'ak looked pissed that he would talk about his best friend in such a weird manner. But Neteyam looked worse. He looked like he wanted to beat the shit out of him, Kirk laughed, same as Rotxo, Ao'nung's friends smirked, and Tsireya looked embarrassed at her brother. I scoffed sarcastically.
     "Oh! I know. Let's go." I grabbed his hand and led the group over to the party. I could hear his friends saying that 'I knew how to treat Ao'nung right' and all that. They're so weird. I don't like him like that. We're just friends.

     We finally reached the location of the party and I took off.  I found the Kava and grabbed an entire tray. I brought it back over to us and we all got one. Ao'nung's friends went over to talk to some girls but everyone else stayed in our group. Ao'nung and I sat on a log together while Lo'ak and Tsireya sat on a log, Kiri with Rotxo, and Neteyam sat by himself. I downed the kava pretty fast and Ao'nung looked surprised. I grabbed another one and kept it for a while.
     "Wow, you really like kava," Ao'nung said. Before I could say anything, Lo'ak spoke up.
     "Damn right she does. One time, the adults at home had a party with kava, so Rina stole some and she had like, 10. Man, she had the worst hungover ever. It was so funny." I frowned at his explanation to my personal parties. I threw a shell at Lo'ak.
     "It was not funny! I had a raging headache for a week!" I yelled, "and either way, at least I wasn't retarded like you and decide not to have any because your dad would find out." Everyone laughed except for Neteyam. I was onto my third drink when it started to kick in.
     "'Nung! Let's go dance." I grabbed his hand and we went close to the bonfire. He grabbed me and pulled me close to him. I giggled as he held me and we swayed to the music. His hands kept going lower and lower, until they were close to touching my butt. I pulled away for a second.
     "I'm gonna get us some more drinks." I walked off to get more kava. Lo'ak and Tsireya were dancing awkwardly, Kiri and Rotxo were talking in another corner, and Neteyam was sitting by himself. I went to the table with the drinks on it and grabbed two. I walked over to Neteyam because he was by himself.
     "Hey man, why are you by yourself. You could be dancing with tons of girls," I smirk. He turns away from me.
     "Okay, what's the problem?" I asked him.
     "You! You are my problem!" He exclaimed.
     "Excuse me? Why?" I stood up in front of him.
     "Because you're a bad influence on Lo'ak, you tell him to do all of the bad stuff and he gets blamed. We're at this party, because of you, for Eywa's sake, the reason we are here is because you told Lo'ak to go to the old shack! You two shouldn't be friends and I'm fucking sick of taking the blame for all of the shit that you pull that he follows along with! And another thing I hate that you do to him is that you make fun of him. Sometimes it's funny, but other times you take it too far." I wasn't just mad now. I was pissed off.
     "Me and Lo'ak are friends because we have a bond that I don't have with anyone else. I don't have any family left! Of course I'm gonna stick to Lo'ak's side. I would kill for him! And if I need to— I will. At least I'm not his stuck up and snotty older brother that he doesn't need! Lo'ak is an independent individual and doesn't need an asshole for a babysitter," I yelled at him. Neteyam was passed yelling at me. He was so angry that he wouldn't even speak to me. I scoffed and walked away, back to Ao'nung. I gave him his cup of kava and smiled slightly.
     "What happened?" Ao'nung asked.
     "Neteyam being an asshole as usual," I scoff. I down my next drink of kava quickly and immediately feel the rush of being drunk.
     "Well, Ao'nung, this is great. But I'm hungry. I'm gonna get some food." I smile.
     "Alright then." Ao'nung led me over to a few makeshift tables with fruits and fish on them. He leaned over me to grab a fruit that was closer to me but then Rotxo ran up to us.
     "Zrina! Neteyam is drinking more kava than someone should, and now he's having this massive rage out! Lo'ak is trying to control him but it's not working." I looked to Ao'nung and he motioned for me to go.
     "I'll be right back." I attempted to run over to Neteyam but I was so drunk I fell a few times. I eventually got over to Neteyam and reached out to him. I touched his shoulder but he pushed me away from him.
    "Follow me." He refused to leave so I grabbed his wrist and brought him back to our Mauri. I heard his stomach gurgle so I push him to the ground so he vomited over the bridge we're on. He starts vomiting over the bridge like I thought so I wrap my arm band around his hair so it doesn't get caked in puke. I gag at him throwing up. He stopped and I could tell everything was gone.
     "Come on." I walked him back to the Mauri and laid him on his blanket. He grabbed me by my waist and pulled me closer to him. I tried to get out of his grip but his arms only got tighter around my waist.
     "Please stay," he begged. I laid down next to him, waiting for him to fall asleep. His head was in the crook of my neck and I could feel the heat of his breath against me. I heard his soft snored and knew that he was asleep. I unwrapped his arms from my waist gently so he wouldn't wake up. I got up and walked back to the party. I spotted Ao'nung. I sat down next to him.
     "How'd it go?" He asked.
     "Pretty good, he puked a bunch but then he crashed, like, instantly," I said.
     "Not as bad as I was expecting." I nodded my head.
     "Now, back to where we left off." I started random conversations with him while we were eating. Ao'nung apparently got a rush of confidence because he leaned in and pressed his lips against mine. I was surprised but I was too drunk to leave. It was a soft kiss considering how intoxicated we were. My drunken state made it harder for me to kiss him, but I still did it. We were making out. And it wasn't too bad either. Until I heard someone yell to me. It was Lo'ak. I didn't really hear him that well but then someone pulled me off of Ao'nung.
     "Bro! Lo'ak what the hell—," I turned around and saw someone I wish I hadn't seen. Jake and the Olo'eyktan, Tonowari. I tried to avoid eye contact.
     "Ao'nung! How could you be so careless! Fraternizing with the newcomer!" Tonowari yelled. I tried to sneak out of this argument but someone grabbed my arm. It was Jake. I groaned.
     "Zrina! What did I tell you? Don't cause trouble! And look what you're doing right now!" Jake yelled. I stood up but I felt dizzy.
     "Well Jake, we were just having a good time, while you barged in and ruined it." I was being dramatic a lot and hiccuped randomly. Ao'nung laughed at me. Jake groaned. Tonowari knew too.
     "Ugh. They're drunk." Jake face palmed. I looked at Jake and smiled widely.
     "Oh hey Jake. When did you get here?" I asked him. I looked to Ao'nung but he had his head down. I stopped smiling because Jake had pulled me away back to the Mauri.
     "I can't believe that any of you went to that party! You're all in an ass amount of trouble!" Jake yelled. I looked away in shame. I noticed that Neteyam was still knocked out cold. Lo'ak, Kiri, and I were the ones that got into trouble.
     "Sorry," I murmured.
     "Yeah you better be. You're not my kid but I can still punish you. Your grounded. All your gonna do are you lessons, and then you come straight back to the Mauri. All of you. Do you understand?" He explained. We nodded and went to sleep.